A view of the gate of Bayero University in northern Nigerian city of Kano. (Getty Images)

(Newser)
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Gunmen attacked church services on a university campus today in northern Nigeria, using small explosives to draw out and gun down panicking worshipers in an assault that killed at least 16 people, officials said. The attackers targeted an old section of Bayero University's campus where religious groups use a theater and other areas to hold worship services, Kano state police spokesman Ibrahim Idris said. The assault left many others seriously wounded, Idris said.

"By the time we responded, they entered (their) motorcycles and disappeared into the neighborhood," the commissioner said. After the attack, police and soldiers cordoned off the campus as gunfire echoed in the surrounding streets. No group immediately claimed responsibility. However, Idris said the attackers used small explosives packed inside of aluminum soda cans for the assault, a method previously used by a radical Islamist sect known as Boko Haram.